


Four Times The Bennet Family is Wrong About William Darcy

by BillieShears



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-23
Updated: 2013-02-23
Packaged: 2017-12-03 08:39:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/696396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BillieShears/pseuds/BillieShears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(... and one time Charlotte is exactly right.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times The Bennet Family is Wrong About William Darcy

1.

“I was wrong about you, William Darcy.”

Jane finds him alone on the porch at Netherfield, shortly after he’d approached Lizzie about the sound system, and whether or not Shakespeare was a poor dramatist.

He’s caught off guard – he and Jane have not had much interaction beyond exchanging pleasantries and a few words here and there at dinner. Most of the time she and Bing were off by themselves, and then she’d gotten that terrible cold that left her quarentined to her room for a few days.

“Pardon me?” He asks, because he’s still not sure he heard her right.

“I had you pegged all wrong,” she admits, “at the Gibson wedding, I thought you were…” She trails off, searching for the right word. “Well. I was wrong.”

“Oh,” He says, because he’s never been great at this sort of thing, “Well. Thank you. That was... I was not my best, that evening.”  Jane smiles sympathetically.

“Everyone has off nights,” She consoles, “Meeting new people can be intimidating.”

“Yes.” He shuffles around awkwardly, placing his hands in his pockets then taking them out almost immediately. He's never been good at talking about himself. “I don’t always make a great first impression, I’m told.”

Jane tilts her head toward the house, listening closely to the strains of music drifting onto the porch.

“Oh!” She sucks in a breath, delighted, “I haven’t heard this in so long! Lizzie loves this song. We used to dance around the kitchen when mom was trying to make dinner and Lydia always did this funny thing where–” She catches herself. Darcy looks at her expectantly.

“Well, anyway,” She grins to herself, “I just came out here to tell you that.”

“Thank you,” He repeats. Jane bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, considering the tall man standing before her.

“You’re a good guy, Darcy.” She says, then jerks her head towards the door. “Feel like re-joining the party?”

He considers the offer, then nods, trailing behind her.

 

2.

Gigi is constantly finding ways to leave them alone as they tour San Francisco. She even goes as far as to jump out of an elevator right before it closes, citing a ‘bladder emergency’, insisting she’d meet up with them in a few minutes.

He is in the middle of saying something about Pemberley’s nap pods and the various times he’s found Gigi and Fitz having slumber parties inside of them (“which is not at all what they’re for, we have a strict company policy,” he tells her) when she interrupts him.

“Can I just say something?”

“If it’s a confession about having a slumber party with Gigi in the nap pods,” His voice is deadpan but there is a smile behind his eyes, “you’re excused. I know how persuasive she can be.”

“No, of course not! Well – actually, yeah, that happened, but that’s not… I just wanted to say that I was wrong about you, and that I’m sorry.” She’s very matter-of-fact about this, as though she’s admitting she once thought the earth was flat but has since learned the truth: “Really-really-sorry.”

“Oh,” his eyes widen behind his glasses and he does that chin thing Gigi pointed out, “well. Thank you. Consider it forgiven.”

“Really?” She asks, dubious, “it’s that simple?”

Darcy simply shrugs and turns to peer out the window.

“People change,” He says. He is still staring out the window but Lizzie is staring only at him, like he’s an entirely new person, like he’s someone she’s heard stories about but never met until now.

“Yes,” she mutters, “they certainly do.”

 

3.

He calls Lydia exactly twice: once, to ask about the video and if it was alright for him to intervene. Then a second time to tell her it had been handled.

“George Wickham will never be able to hurt you or anyone else again,” He assures her. It feels a little dramatic, but it was a dramatic situation so he feels that it’s warrented.

“Damn, Darce,” Though her vernacular hasn’t changed much, she sounds different somehow. He can’t quite pinpoint it. Tired, maybe. “I was totes wrong about you. Thank you. Really.”

“It was the least I could do,” He tells her. An uncomfortable silence settles over the line.

“Well, thanks again,” She says lamely. He stays quiet. “See you around, I guess.”

“Lydia, wait,” He says it before he can change his mind, “I’m sorry for what I said about you. Before. That was…unfair.”

“It’s okay,” She says, and he can’t see her face but she sounds like she means it, “I wasn’t really fair about you, either.”

“Did you – happen to mention any of this to your sister?” He asks suddenly, “My involvement, anything like that?”

“Not yet,” She admits, “I will, though. I just didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. About… the website.”

“Don’t tell her,” He rushes his words so it sounds like one big jumble: _donttellher_. “Please.”

“What? But why?” He can practically see her confusion, despite the many miles between them. “She’ll be so happy.”

“I don’t ever want your sister to feel like she owes me a debt of some kind.” He’s adamant about this: he’s had a lot of time to think it over, and this is what’s best for all involved. He’s sure of it.

“ _She_ doesn’t,” Lydia presses, “ _I_ do.”

“No, you don’t.” He says flatly. “Take care, Lydia.”

And he hangs up.

 

4.

Mrs. Bennet grins at him from across the table like the Cheshire Cat. It is the first time he’s ever been alone with her, and he isn’t quite sure what to say.

“Lizzie tells me you grow your own tomatoes,” is what he settles on. He cringes even as it leaves his mouth: perhaps ‘agoraphobic lobster’ isn’t so far off the mark.

Mrs. Bennet just grins and grins. In that moment, she looks so much like Lydia it’s startling.

“I was wrong about you, Mr. Darcy,” she coos. He clears his throat.

“Were you,” he says.

“Well, not about the rich and handsome part,” She concedes, leaning towards him conspiratorially, “I was right on the money with those! But as to your _personality,_ William, I simply couldn’t have been further from the truth!”

“Is that so,” he says, because he can think of nothing else. He doesn’t know where Lizzie’s gone, but he wishes she would come back soon.

“Here I thought you were this cold, distant, _prickly_ sort of man,” She carries on, “and all the while you were hiding that sweet little personality! Why, having Lizzie shadow your company, chaperoning her all around town, handling Lydia’s little _video_ problem, reuniting Jane and Bing –”

“I really don’t think I can rightfully take credit to all those things,” He protests, but Mrs. Bennet won’t hear of it.

“You turned out to be _quite_ the match for my Lizzie,” She concludes. It is at precisely this moment Lizzie herself returns, just in time to hear her mother say: “And I want you to know that if the spirit ever moves you to call me ‘Mother Bennet’, I wholeheartedly accept and _encourage_ that title!”

“Mom!” Lizzie shrieks. The platter of cookies she’s holding clatters to the floor and Darcy spits up his drink. “Control yourself!”

Mrs. Bennet just grinned her Cheshire grin.

 

5.

Nobody can say that Charlotte Lu doesn’t know her bestie. The running joke is that they are lifelong scholars of the many moods of Jane Bennet, but the truth is that’s _nothing_ compared to how well she knows Lizzie. Lizzie’s had a reputation of being incredibly perceptive, but even she had to confess to some severe misjudgments. Charlotte’s, however? Charlotte’s perception was _on point_. It always has been. 

It comes as no surprise when Charlotte stands up to make a toast at the Bennet-Darcy wedding. It comes as no surprise, too, that the toast is accompanied by an oversized projector screen and a powerpoint slideshow.

“When Elizabeth Bennet and William Darcy first met, nobody ever would’ve thought ‘those two people are getting married someday’. In fact, almost everybody thought they hated each other. Even Lizzie herself thought they hated each other. But there was one person who insisted, from the beginning, that there was more to it than that.” Charlotte smiles deviously as she starts up the powerpoint, and the old familiar intro tune from the videos plays. “Her name is Lizzie Bennet… and _I told her so._ ”

“Exhibit A,” Charlotte displays an email thread on the screen, “The first time I correctly guessed the meaning behind Darcy’s behavior at the Gibson wedding.”

_[e_bennet@gmail.com](mailto:e_bennet@gmail.com): I mean, what is his deal, anyway? “Decent enough”? Who says that? _

_[lu_c@gmail.com](mailto:lu_c@gmail.com): Maybe it was a cover. Maybe he likes you._

_[e_bennet@gmail.com](mailto:e_bennet@gmail.com): Right. Because _ that’s _the way to charm someone into liking you._

“Exhibit B,” Charlotte clicks to the next slide, “episode fifteen of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, aptly titled ‘Lizzie Bennet is in Denial’. In which Jane and I call public attention to Darcy’s clear attempts at romantic overtures.” She shows a quick clip, then moves on to the next slide:  

“Exhibit C,” Behind her is a screenshot of a series of text exchanges between she and Lizzie, “I think this speaks for itself.”

 **Lizzie:** Bing convinced him to join us for dinner. He’s doing that trainwreck-stare-thing again.

 **Charlotte:** Not a ‘trainwreck-stare-thing.’ A ‘this girl is smart and funny I’m really into her what do I do’ thing.

 **Lizzie:** Cut it out. How am I supposed to eat pasta with him staring at me like that?

 **Charlotte:** Pasta? Maybe he wants to be the Tramp to your Lady. Has he offered you a meatball yet?

 **Lizzie:** There’s a good number of things we could call William Darcy… I don’t think “tramp” is one of them.

 **Charlotte:** Ugh. Text me if you wind up chewing the same piece of spaghetti.

Her audience laughs good naturedly, and Charlotte catches Lizzie's eye. She's shaking her head at her since-fetuses-bestie, but she's smiling, too. Charlotte winks.

“Which bring us to Exhibit D, the coup de grâce.” She advances to the next slide and rolls the clip: Darcy bursting into Lizzie’s office at Collins & Collins and declaring his love. (She is kind enough to stop the clip _before_ Lizzie’s rejection.)

“So as you can see, Darcy, while everyone _else_ might’ve been wrong about you…” Charlotte smirks triumphantly towards the head table, where Darcy is looking at Charlotte from between his fingers, hands covering his face, “ _I_ was _exactly_ right.”


End file.
